An analysis of supply chains in renewable energy industries: A survey in italy

This chapter provides a deep analysis on the evolution of supply chains in renewable energy industries. Understanding how supply chains evolve during the development of renewable energy industries under the impact of an incentive system is critical to provide a comprehensive understanding of the approaches and policies that can foster sustainable development. However, existing research has not adopted a systematic and quantitative approach to address this issue so far. To fill this gap, the chapter discusses the results of a survey of the Italian photovoltaic, wind and bioenergy supply chains covering the period 2010-2013. Data were collected through structured Interviews with 1,200 firms operating in different stages of these supply chains. For each renewable energy industry, we illustrate the anatomy of the supply chain by discussing data regarding turnover, level of internationalization of the supply chain, profitability of the different business areas, evolution of the turnkey cost of the plant.